Clemson University astronomers have received a grant of $244,000 from NASA to use data from several space-based gamma-ray telescopes to study a mysterious emission coming from the central regions of the Milky Way galaxy.
Gamma rays, the light of energy a thousand times more powerful than X-rays , are seen coming from the disk of our galaxy, roughly from where we see the glow of the Milky Way under a dark sky.
"We're not surprised to see this emission from the Milky Way's disk," said Mark Leising, Clemson University astronomy professor and principal investigator in the study in a written statement.
"We know that massive stars explode as supernovae there, fusing new elements from lighter ones. Such explosions long ago made the oxygen and iron in our blood and the calcium in our bones, along with most other heavy elements. Some of these elements are radioactive and produce antimatter positrons when they decay.
Clemson students will work with colleagues from Germany, France and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Leising said such technical advances inevitably lead to spinoff benefits.
"Development of these detectors and analysis techniques aided in the development of PET (positron emission tomography) scanners, in which patients ingest radioactive elements that decay and emit antimatter. We are doing much the same thing, except that we have to sit back 25,000 light years to measure the gamma rays," he said.
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